Spirit: Behind the Screen

Wherever you are this weekend, we hope you will join us in honoring our service members who have sacrificed their lives for our nation.

Our nonprofit foundation Spirit Gives also recognizes the family members that share in this sacrifice by supporting gold star families who have lost a loved member in service.

As a veteran-owned business, Spirit is deeply connected to our military background, and we are welcoming many new team members who have also served in the military. Today's episode is highlighting our Spirit veterans and their stories about their transition from military career to civilian life.

You can hear our team talk about how this is a challenging transition for many of our service members. Listen in whether you're a veteran about to transition or a civilian interested in how to help a team member out in their new career. 

ELES is an Italian manufacturer of test equipment and systems that exercise and qualify semiconductors around the world. Marco Paolucci is the sales and business development director delivering the ELES zero defect goal to Spirit and the US.
 
ELES uses a process called "RETE," Reliability Embedded Test Engineering, which translates from Italian as "net." Marco explains how the ELES approach is a safety net to prevent dangerous product failures.
 
Listen to Marco and Marti discuss . . .
(2:08) The RETE approach
(5:42) ELES test platform flexible solutions
(7:53) Characterizing failure
(12:04) Failure analysis
(14:24) System level test 
 
Your test and qualification process is only as good as your test equipment. Not only is Spirit building out a test lab with the best equipment on the market, but we are also offering capital equipment sales to support your test programs. Visit spiritelectronics.com/capital-equipment-sales/ to learn more.

Marti sits down this week with Peter Hancock, president of Focused Test, a design and manufacturing company for automatic test equipment for power discrete devices and power management ICs.

With market changes to meet the growing use of GaN and SiC technology, on top of the impact of the pandemic, Peter discusses what challenges are facing the test equipment supply chain--along with opportunities.

Listen to Marti and Peter talk about:

(1:50) Focused Test and automatic test equipment gap for MOSFET market

(2:50) GaN market opportunity

(6:10) Test equipment and services supply chain boom

(10:23) RadHard testing and equipment portability

Looking for a solution to your test and screening challenges in the A&D supply chain? Spirit has just added an in-house test lab with new screening capabilities. Contact our team at spiritelectronics.com to find out more.

How do you find a minute but costly void in wafer bonding when it may be less than 0.1 micron in size? Sonix has spent the past 3 decades developing ultrasonic testing equipment for nondestructive testing to achieve this level of inspection. Sonix acoustic imaging can analyze products to avoid failures with increasing efficiency and at smaller microscopic resolutions.

Marti talks with sales and applications engineering lead Shwetha Jakkidi about how Sonix is advancing in acoustic imaging technology and applications.

Jump to these times to hear Shwetha and Marti talk about . . .

(3:45) What is acoustic imaging?

(4:26) Acoustic image quality and advancements

(7:35) Applications of acoustic imaging

(9:52) Cost of error and screening for Aerospace and Defense

(14:52) Where is Sonix headed in 2021?

Shwetha Jakkidi holds a PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering with over 15 years of experience. She is currently the sales and applications engineering leader for the Americas and Europe for Sonix.

Sonix, a business unit of Tektronix, is a leading producer of acoustic scanning microscopes. Spirit has partnered with Sonix as a representative for capital equipment sales to our customers in aerospace and defense. To find out how you can buy cutting-edge Sonix equipment, visit spiritelectronics.com/capital-equipment-sales/sonix-test-equipment/.

Spirit's Quality Manager Estefania Altamirano recently completed Lead Auditor Certification for AS9100. As quality manager, she oversees many of Spirit's compliance programs, as well as functions like our business procedures, corrective action and continual improvement, and internal audit program.

Quality Analyst by day, Podcast editor by night Alyssa Marquez interviews Estefania about the training she completed and what her new skills mean for our customers and suppliers.

Spirit Electronics is certified to AS9100 and ISO9001 quality management standards, meeting aerospace and defense customer requirements. To learn more about our certifications and programs, visit spiritelectronics.com/about-us/quality.

EPC Space is a joint venture company between EPC Corp and VPT Inc. focused on providing Gallium Nitride (GaN) power devices for space applications.

In this episode, EPC Space CEO Bel Lazar talks with Marti about the company's product lines and applications, as well as the ability of GaN devices to withstand radiation and harsh environmental conditions in space.

Can your device make a satellite go "chh chh"?

Jump to these times to hear about

(1:28) The story behind the move from silicon to GaN

(2:57) The GaN market size

(5:13) Space applications and product portfolio

(7:42) Radiation tolerance in space

(10:10) Reliability and testing to failure

(11:30) EPC Space design support

Bel Lazar currently serves as the CEO of EPC Space. He has over 30 years of experience in semiconductor, aerospace, and defense fields.

Spirit Electronics is an authorized distributor for EPC Space products. Visit spiritelectronics.com for a quote on EPC's GaN devices.

How do you take the lead in a competitive market? Tracey Latham talks with Marti about what gives her company, Latham Industries, their competitive edge in contract manufacturing. Catch a preview of Spirit's new partnership with Latham Industries.

You can jump to these timestamps to hear about:

(1:10) Quality production and equipment

(4:13) Latham Industries team and experience

(6:00) Manufacturing tech in Arizona and the US

(7:40) Future for Latham Industries and Spirit Electronics

Latham Industries is an electronics contract manufacturer run by CEO and founder Tracey Latham, who has over 25 years of experience in manufacturing. Latham Industries offers printed circuit board assembly for the aerospace industry, as well as medical, industrial, communications, and security customers.

Spirit is partnering with our Phoenix, AZ neighbor Latham Industries to design a robotic solder exchange process. Stay tuned for more info from Spirit on our new value add services coming in 2021 at spiritelectronics.com.

What's new for memory applications and trends in 2021? Micron memory products from DRAM to SSDs have a legacy of market leadership, but you need Micron's forward-thinking product quality and development to stay ahead of the explosive growth of data and the Internet of Things (IoT).

Marti talks with David Henderson and Scott Schaefer at Micron about the new market demands they see in industrial applications, including in aerospace and defense, and how Micron's products are innovating for new applications.

Tune in to a topic

(1:58) Changes in memory

(5:10) Automotive and industrial

(7:10) Military and aerospace applications

(10:10) Types of memory

(11:10) Data in aerospace and defense

(15:10) Pandemic acceleration

(17:25) Solid state drives (SSDs)

Want to know more about how Spirit screens Micron products to meet requirements for military and aerospace customers? Episode 2 talks about screening Micron's DDR4.

David Henderson is the Director of Industrial and Consumer Segment Marketing and Scott Schaefer is a Senior Member of Technical Staff for DRAM Architecture at Micron, a leading producer in memory products and data storage. 

Spirit is an authorized distributor for Micron with special focus on product screening and qualification for aerospace and defense. You can contact our team at Spirit Electronics for a quote on Micron memory products.

Alex Lidow discusses EPC's test-to-failure method in improving gallium nitride (GaN) devices.

According to Alex, testing to failure has allowed EPC to tease out the exact stressors that cause failure and improve EPC's GaN devices 10-100 times the reliability of commercial devices, and even 100 times reliability in space applications.

Alex and Marti discuss

(1:30) Why test to fail

(4:14) Learning from failure data and stressors

(11:38) Safe Operating Area

(14:30) Mechanical stressors

(17:45) EPC Space

EPC has recently published their Phase 12 Reliability Report.

EPC (Efficient Power Conversion Co.) is the leading provider of GaN-based power management technology, and Alex Lidow is the company's CEO and cofounder. Spirit is an authorized distributor of EPC products in the aerospace and defense market. Visit spiritelectronics.com for a quote on EPC's GaN devices.

This episode is truly "behind the screen" with Spirit. Marti shares some of our wins and lessons learned in 2020 as well as a preview for our facility expansion, test services coming soon, hiring openings, and what our customers can expect in 2021.

Want to jump to a topic?

2:15 Building Expansion

3:15 Lessons Learned

7:30 Team Growth and Hiring

11:00 New Testing Services Coming in 2021

15:20 Test Equipment Distribution

17:15 Micron and the DDR4

19:50 EPC Space

21:20 Cybersecurity

23:50 ERP System

25:15 What can our customers expect?

In the win column, Spirit added new product lines in 2020 with Micron and EPC Space. You can hear Marti's chat with Zef Malik about the Micron DDR4 in Episode 2.

If you're excited about our growth and want to join our team or know someone ready to "hold their own umbrella" and dive in, you can apply for our open positions at spiritelectronics.com/careers.